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T. NORDENFELT.

BREEGH LOADING ORDHNANGE. No. 379,024. 8 Patented Mar. 6, 1888.

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BREBGH LOADING ORDNANGE. No. 379,024. Patented Mar. 6,1888.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

T NORDENFELT.

BRBBGHY LOADING ORDNANGB.

No. 379,024. Patented Mar. 6, 1888;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THORSTEN NOEDENFELT, OF VVESTMINSTEE, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE NORDENFELT GUNS AND AMMUNITION COMPANY, (LIMITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 379,024, dated March 6, 1888.

Application filed May 26, 1887. Serial No. 239,452. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern: v

Be it known that I, THORSTEN NORDEN- FELT, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at 53 Parliament street, in the city of Westminster, England, civil engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Breech Mechanism of Ordnance, of which the following is a specification.

In a transverse opening at the breech end of the barrel I provide a breech-block. This breech-block is moved by means of a handle ver and an arm or arms on a sleeve upon the axis of thehand-lever, which engage with the block, as hereinafter described. The movement imparted to the block in opening the breech is at first rectilinear and transverse to the barrel and then rotary about the axis, which is transverse to the barrel. These movements are sufficient in linear distance and in are to leave the bore of the gun open for the reception of another cartridge. During the rectilinear movement the breech block is guided by ribs which usually are inclined ata small angle to the face at the rear end of the z 5 barrel. As in opening the breech the block moves along these guide-ribs,it recedes slightly from the face.

The hand-lever imparts motion to the breechblock in the following manner: The axis of the o hand-lever has upon it asleeve, and an arm or arms are provided on the sleeve within the breech-opening. Usually I provide two hooklike arms, one on either side of the breechblock, and they are received into recesses in 5 the block. These parts are so formed that the arms first carry the block down along the rec tilinear guides, and then when it gets free from these guides the hook-like arms set fast in the recesses, and in the further movement carry 0 the breech block on along a curved path around the axis.

To extract the cartridge-case at the time when the breech is opened, the breech-block may itself be made to effect the extraction, or

5 a separate leverextractor may be used, as hereinafter described. An arm on the sleeve surrounding the axis of the hand-lever also imparts motion to the firing-pin or hammer for firing the cartridges. This firing-pin is contained within the breech-block, and during the first part of the movement of the handlever in opening the breech the firing-pin is forced back against the resistance of a spring.

The cocking-arm acts against a projection on the firing-pin, and these parts are inclined so 5 that the thrust upon the projection tends to rotate the firing-pin. 'When the firing-pin has been pushed back sufliciently far, it turns partly around,theprojection upon it then meeting with a recess in the breech-block,which it is able to enter. Sometimes I add a special lug in the bloclgwhich acts with inclined surfaces against others on the firing-pin and helps to turn it partly around, when it meets with the recess. The projection thus escapes from the arm and the arm passes it as the mot-ion of the hand-lever continues. When the handlever returns in closing the breech, the arm leaves the projection of the hammer in the recess, and there it remains until the hand-lever is on the point of completing its forward stroke, when the firing-pin may be released by atrigger-lever so applied as to turn it and enable it to escape. The cocking-arm I form in such a manner that it prevents the hammer from turning, so that the projection from the hammer cannot escape from the recess in the block before the breech is closed.

The drawings hereunto annexed show various views of breech mechanism constructed So as above described.

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show an arrangement of mechanism in which a lever-extractor is used, and Figs. 5 and 6 the arrangement when the breech-block itself forms the extractor. Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through the center of the breechblock, showing the cocking and firing mechanism. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the breech open. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing the mechanism for giving 0 movement to the breech-block, and Fig. 4 is a back end elevation of the mechanism. Fig.

5 is a horizontal section through the center of the breech-block, and Fig. 6 a rear view showingaslightly modified construction. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the breech-block represented in Figs. 1 to 4:. Fig. 8 is a plan and Fig. 9 a side view, and Fig. 10 a rear view, of the firing pin or hammer. Fig. 11 is a plan and Fig. 12 a side view of the cookingarm.

In the figures, A is a transverse opening at the breech end of the barrel.

B is the breech-block, which is received into the opening. Projecting inward from the top and bottom of the opening are ribs A. These enter corresponding grooves, B, in the top and bottom of the breech-block at the time when the breech is closed. The rear end of the breech-block also rests against the solid abutment A, which closes the rear end of the transverse opening, except that it has a slot, A formed through it,through which the cartridges are passed endwise into the barrel when the breech is opened.

Ois the axis of the lever-handle used for opening and closing the breech. D D are two hook-like arms-projecting from it. These are received into recesses B formed to receive them in the top and bottom sides of the breech-block. These arms act on opposite walls of the recesses in opening and closing the breech-that is to say, in opening the breech each arm acts on the wall or side of its receiving-recess opposite that on which it acts in closing the breech. When the breech is closed and the lever-handle is turned in a direction to open the breech, the ends of the hooks D, bearing against the parts of the recesses B with which they are in contact, press the block 13 endwise and give to it a rectilinear movement transverse to the barrel until the point B of the rear end of the breechblock has been carried past the point A. of the abutment A. The curved portion B of the front face of the breech-block then comes against the axis 0, and the block is thereby prevented from moving farther in a straight line, but is free to turn around the axis, as will be seen by the drawings, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and it is so caused to turn around the axis by the ends of the hooks D still continuing to bear against the recesses B in the block. The turning movement of the breech-block is arrested as soon as the breech is open by a projection, B on the block then coming against the front face of the abutment A.

E are the extractor-levers lying in recesses, one at the top and the other at the bottom of the breech-block.- These are free to turn on a pin, F, which passes through the block. During the rectilinear movement of the block the levers E are carried along with it and their lips E come behind the rim of the cartridgecase; but when the block begins to turn around the axis 0 the ends of the lips E which are nearest to this axis form fulcrums upon which the levers are rocked, and the cartridge-case is thereby withdrawn a'short distance slowly and with great power. Toward the end of the turning motion of the block the levers are brought against the axis 0, and this then forms a fulcrum around which the extractor-levers turn, and as the length of thelever-arms between the cartridgecase and the fulcrum on which the levers rock is thereby considerably increased the case is then rapidly ejected. The extractor-levers'are prevented from turnlng too far by stops A G is the firing pin or hammer pressed forward by a spring, H. G is a projection from the firing-pin, by which the firing-pin is forced back partly during the movement of the handlever before the breech begins to moye and partly during the first part of the rectilinear movement of the breech. The project on is at this time thrust backward by the cocking-arm I, which projects from the sleeve on the ax1s O. The end of the arm is inclined, and when the projection has been thrust back by it far enough to bring the projection opposite to a recess at one side of it in the block the pro ection is turned into this recess by the incline on the end of the arm, and it may be also by an incline on the striker then coming against an incline on a fixed pin, K. When the pro ection is turned into the recess, the cockingarm can move past it, and so does not impede the turning of theaxis O by the lever-handle. The

projection G remains in the recess until the gun is to be fired. It is then pushed out from the recess by the inclined end of the lever-trlgger arm L. The other arm of this lever may be acted upon by a trigger or by a lanyard or otherwise, as desired.

To insure that the gun shall not be fired unless the breech is properly closed, a projection, I, on'the cocking-arm is made to come in the way of a projection, L, on the trigger-lever and to prevent this lever from being turned in a d1- rection to come into contact with the projection G to turn it out from the recess in which it is retained until the breech has been closed and the projection l on the cocking-arm consequently moved away from the projection L on the trigger-lever. The gun is then free to be fired by pulling the trigger.

In the arrangement shown at Figs. 5 and 6 the construction is substantially the same, except that the breech-block B is itself formed with extractor-pins E,Which come behind the flange of the cartridge-case when the breech has completed the rectilinear portion of its movement when the breech is being opened, and then when the breech-block commences to turn around the axis 0 the extractor-pins E withdraw the cartridge-case. If the motion given to the breech-block by the lever-handle is sufficiently rapid, the cartridge-case can be throw-n out completely clear of the barrel, whichis then leftfree ready to receive another cartridge. In place of the breech-blocks of the breech closing mechanisms herein described being made to move in a horizontal plane, as hereinbefore described, they might, if preferred, be made to work in a vertical plane.

Having now particularly described and ascertaincd the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. The combination of the barrel, the breech- IIIC block movable in the breech-opening and having the recess or recesses B, the solid abutment behind the breech-block, the lever-actuated axis transverse to the barrel, and the hook-like arm or arms D on the axis, entering the recess or recesses 13 and acting on opposite walls thereof to open and close the breech, whereby on turning the axis to open the breech the breech-block is moved first rectilinearly and-transversely to the barrel, being then confined to this movement by the abutment behind it, and next is turned about the axis, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the barrel, thebreechblock movable in the breech-opening and having the recess or recesses 13, the guide-ribs on opposite surfaces of the breech-opening, the corresponding guide-grooves in the breechblock, the solid abutment behind the breechblock, the axis transverse to the barrel, and the hook-like arm or arms engaging the recess or recesses B and acting on opposite Walls thereof to open and close the breech, whereby on turning the axis to open the breech the breech-block is moved first reetilinearly and transversely to the barrel, being then confined to this movement by the guide-ribs and abutment, and next is turned about the axis, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the barrel,the breechblock movable in the breech-opening and having the rigid fins on opposite sides for engaging With the cartridge to eject an empty shell from the barrel, and the axis transverse to the barrel and having connection with the breechblock, about which axis in opening the breech the breech-block turns after having been first moved rectilinearly and transversely to the barrel, substantially as set forth.

THORSTEN NORDENFELT.

\Vitnesses:

E. Blwsnwr z, F. A. NOEL. 

